Brendan Rodgers has swapped the Emirates and Old Trafford for away trips to Dingwall and the Caledonian Stadium.

But coming from a council estate in Northern Ireland, there is no snobbery about Celtic's new manager and he’s relishing his upcoming nights in the Highlands instead of days at White Hart Lane and the Etihad.

Rodgers heard the sneers when Celtic came calling.

Some people in the game advised him strongly against leaving the bright lights of England’s Premier League to head for the backwater of Scottish football.

They warned him of no budget, no prestige and no career advancement. But Rodgers wasn’t listening.

The Parkhead gaffer is adamant the critics only spoke through ignorance over the sheer size of Celtic .

And Rodgers insists heading for outposts instead of hotbeds has done nothing to dampen his enthusiasm for the challenges ahead.

He said: “I’ve thought of the Emirates on a Tuesday or a Wednesday night or going to Inverness but it’s football.

“I’m from a council estate in Northern Ireland, so I’m not a snob about football.

“Football is football. You represent the team and you go anywhere with them whether it’s up the road or in Europe.

“I’m looking forward to this job. It’s different. I’ve had five years in the Premier League and that’s great.

“But I’m 43 and if I’ve to have another 20 years of management in me, then I was never always going to be in the Premier League – and would never want that.

But anyone who thinks his heart has ruled his head is way off the mark. He said: “I’m a professional, I have always said that.

“When I am 70 years of age and I go into a shop to get a loaf of bread I will not be given it on loyalty.

“I have got to earn the money to buy it.

“So it wasn’t going to be purely on emotion, it was going to be about a professional move.

“Clearly Celtic is a club I love, a wonderful club and family, but I was coming in here to speak to people about whether I could be a professional who could really help the club.

“So I was quite open-minded. There was no pressure either way.”

Rodgers is delighted to have taken over at Parkhead

Celtic look to have won a watch.

There is no question of Rodgers being an ailing boss sliding down the scale.

On the contrary, he’s a manager who could actually be reaching his peak and the attention to detail is clear, writes the Daily Record .

Rodgers added: “I’d hope so. Maybe the difference with me is that I was coaching for 15 years before I got my first job.

“Whenever I finished playing I got into coaching very young.

“There’s no doubt you gain through experience. There’s no way that I know everything and I’ll be getting better and better.

“My mindset is to grow and to learn and if you can do that then you become better and I hope that’s also the case here.

“Celtic fell short last year on a couple of set-pieces. That’s what stopped them going through.

“I’ve looked at every single goal Celtic have scored and conceded since I was appointed here.

“I know there are areas we can improve on and gain. That’s important for us. I probably started doing that a wee bit before I was appointed.

“I had the idea I was coming. I’ll need to assess things and I’ll need to look. There are some good players here and some young talents.

“I can look and identify all I want from a distance. You always have an idea of how to change things and there are one or two players I’ll want to bring in but I want to look and speak to the players who are here.

Under Ronny Deila, crowds and interest fell to such an extent that areas of the stadium were closed for matches.

For Rodgers, that was barely believable and it’s a situation he needs to address.

He said: “When I used to see the stadium here when I was younger, it was full.

“One of the times I came here they were building the stands but I remember European nights when Martin O’Neill was here as manager with sixty-odd thousand in attendance.

“This is a club that has that support and more.

“So when I hear and see that the top end of the Lisbon Lions Stand had been shut down for the last couple of years because it wasn’t getting filled then that gave me a big motivation to get people in there to watch the team play football.

“Maybe the competition hasn’t been there but I’ve come here believing this is an incredible club and I’m really looking forward to working in the league.”